Rescued soldier : I was used

[dogday]

JESSICA LYNCH, the former US army supply clerk who became a national icon after her capture and rescue during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, says she was “used” by the Pentagon to “show the war was going great”.
Ms Lynch, 22, told Time magazine: “I think I provided a way to boost everybody’s confidence about the war . . . I was used as a symbol. It doesn’t bother me anymore. It used to.” Ms Lynch says that her book, I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story, will “set the record straight”.



Ms Lynch said that the television movie of her life was inaccurate. Ms Lynch said that she hopes to become a teacher. In a few weeks she begins classes at West Virginia University, where her tuition fees have been paid for by the state.

Ms Lynch, from Palestine, West Virginia, was a private in the US Army when she was captured in Iraq on March 23, 2003, near al-Nasiriyah, a crossing point over the Euphrates River. She suffered two spinal fractures, nerve damage and a shattered right arm, right foot and left leg when her Humvee crashed during a firefight.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1726992,00.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. That headline confused me. I thought someone out there had been used by

Jessica.

But I am really glad that she is speaking out about what has happened to her. I wish her well!

[dogday]

3. fix it thanks nt

[SujiwanKenobee]

2. I think your title needs better punctuation

I thought it was a beef by some other soldier complaining about Ms. Lynch.

[CottonBear]

4. Can you edit the title to remove "by Jessica Lynch"?

It's confusing and it's not the actual title.
Thanks for posting the article. :)

[dogday]

6. Fixed it

[Qanisqineq]

5. .

from the title, I thought it meant some other soldier was saying he/she was used by Jessica Lynch. :D

I wish more people would hear what she has to say about how she was used. For a long time I resented her for all the attention she got and other POW's didn't but now I see that she felt used and didn't necessarily want all of it.

[dogday]

7. I think it is great that she is speaking out

it is time to expose these people for what they are...

[etherealtruth]

8. Good for her!

There is something (at least a little) heroic about coming out against the chimp and the evil cabal, stating that you have been used as a propaganda tool.

[wicket]

9. She's been through such a terrible ordeal

Bless her for speaking out.

[catnhatnh]

10. It's sad,but true....

...It's hard to swallow that someone who is given fame and fortune by a twist of fate and the need of the neocons for good propaganda was "used". But despite parades and honors and even the gift of her families home being rebuilt, she to is indeed a victim.
After all, her acts were limited to riding in a convoy and being injured and knocked unconcious when her vehicle crashed-and the injuries were serious. But remember that the young lady was not the one who spun the Sgt. York/ Audie Murphy tales of firing here M-16 till out of ammo and then fighting hand to hand....that was the spin machine of our "Great Leader"...
And now, Miss Lynch having outlived her usefulness to the right is left hanging with the same slightly sour taste that we suffer in her mouth-she will always be tainted by our memories and suspicion of heroism that never occurred...I wish her well

[ohio_liberal]

11. But yet...

She does PR appearances and such while saying she just wants to be a normal girl. How much of a victim could she really be?

[MercutioATC]

12. I'm skeptical...

If she was "used", she was "used" for MONTHS afterwards when she joined that motivational speaker tour with those other Fundies...